NEW BERN, N.C. — Three members of a home-grown terror ring who conspired to attack Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., and foreign targets were sentenced Friday to between 15 and 45 years in federal prison.

Hysen Sherifi, 27, will serve 45 years in prison; Ziyad Yaghi, 23, got nearly 32 years; and Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 24, was sentenced to 15 years. They faced the possibility of life in prison. Each said they would appeal their convictions and claimed innocence. Dozens of members of Raleigh’s Muslim community made the five-hour round-trip to coastal New Bern to witness the hearing for the men who supporters believe were unjustly convicted.

Rather than deal with the homegrown threat the mosque’s members by and large defended the would be Marine-killing terrorists.

Hysen Sherifi and others arrested in the terrorism conspiracy were members of the Islamic Association of Raleigh, the largest Muslim congregation in the Triangle. Several members of the mosque also routinely made the 4-hour round trip for the trial in New Bern to support the accused, who they described as innocent men being railroaded by overzealous federal authorities. (Associated Press)

Nevine Aly Elshiekh, who was arrested in 2012 for plotting to behead our Marines, was a teacher at a religious school affiliated with the Islamic Association of Raleigh. (“Brother pleads guilty in NC beheading plot,” Associated Press, November 1, 2012)

Mohammed Abu Salha, who serves in the leadership of that mosque according to this magazine, didn’t distance himself from that hateful mosque. His children were buried by it.

Nor does it seem like Abu Salha really wants to accept responsibility for his faith’s violence.

Instead Abu Salha blamed the media for the atheist killing his two daughters.

“And I want to say one more thing, with the media bombarding every American every day with news about what they call Islamic terrorism–none of which is Islamic at all– they are really preparing people for such tragedies and triggering them and provoking them,” Abu Salha said to MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow.

As tragic as the loss of his daughters is, Dr. Abu Sahl won’t face that his mosque produced young men that could have killed our marines.

About Charles C. Johnson

Gotnews.com founder and editor-in-chief Charles C. Johnson is an investigative journalist, author, and sought after researcher. He was a contributor to the Daily Caller and the Blaze, and his work is frequently featured on Drudge Report. He is author of Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America’s Most Underrated President and The Truth About the IRS Scandal. Charles is an award-winning journalist who has also written for Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, American Spectator, Daily Beast, National Review Online, PJ Media, and Weekly Standard. Charles has appeared on Fox News with Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, and Lou Dobbs and numerous radio programs, including Rusty Humphries, Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, and Mark Levin. He is at work on a new book about the researcher community and Barack Obama.